FMA and the Fission Bomb Assassination
by Regaime Seishi
Summary: continuation after the movie. Ed & Al have finally found Huskisson, but destroying the man's bomb might prove harder than they thought. luckily they have one of this world's brightest minds to help: Albert Einstein.


Chapter 1- The Beginning of the End

It had started with a photograph; a worn, russet-brown picture of two men holding a spherical container, surrounded by beaming colleagues in white lab coats. From there the task needed to be done was set for them in stone, for they could not allow such a thing to exist. Though their own search was over, now a new one had begun, one they would follow in this new world.

They sat in the bed of a motorized wagon, surrounded by travelers like themselves, though these innocents had no idea of what was being created beneath the soil of this corrupted world. Ed had thought that Mustang's bombs had been bad. Al had thought Kimbley's had been pretty awful too. Neither of these methods lived up to the one that Huskisson had discovered.

It had been a surprise to find he was still alive, that he had made it to the other side of the Gate. It seemed almost unfair to the two brothers; they had sacrificed everything to open the portal to the other side, and a war had started because of that desire. All Huskisson ever did was want too much for his invention to be used. He should have died transmuting those miners…he hadn't toiled like they had—hadn't _bled_—and knowing he was alive just didn't seem right in the great scheme of things. It made the boys doubt equivalent exchange even more.

Voices to their right drew the boys out of their long-faced reverie. Each had been caught up in memories and the task ahead of them, paying little attention to the passengers around them until they recognized the topic being discussed.

"It says it right here," a man said, holding a newspaper to the man next to him and jabbing a finger at a particular headline, "'President Roosevelt decides to take Einstein's advice and work on the fission bomb in order to beat Germany to its invention.'"

"Can I see that?" Edward asked, pushing himself into a sitting position. Al turned to his brother, curious as to what had caught his attention. The man, surprised that this boy was actually addressing him after being particularly antisocial the entire ride, handed the paper to him, eager to learn why he was interested. Ed merely shrugged off his inquiry.

"I'm just bored, is all," the former alchemist replied, turning his attention to the article in his hands.

It was just as the man had said: apparently Einstein had written Roosevelt warning him to start research on a fission bomb. He was concerned that Germany would be dangerous with such a power and wanted America to beat them to it. The president had taken Einstein's advice and elected Robert Oppenheimer to run the program. Edward frowned as he read this information, disgusted by the thought that Huskisson wasn't the only one trying to improve his invention. Ed wondered if the man had sold his idea to both the American _and_ the German government.

He turned the page to the continued article, intending on finishing it, but there was no need; the face looking back at him was enough to appease his curiosity. Alphonse, who had been looking over his shoulder since he gained possession of the newspaper gasped as his hazel eyes passed over the photo that had started this search, the one his brother had gotten from Fritz Lang. In it, Huskisson stood second from the left, smack dap in the middle, as if taunting them. Underneath the picture was the caption: 'From left to right: Robert Oppenheimer, Otto Frisch, Enrico Fermi, Edward Teller, and Felix Bloch – The Masterminds Behind the Manhattan Project'.

"No wonder we haven't been able to find this guy," Edward commented sarcastically, squinting at the page he held, "He's taken the liberty of giving himself a new identity."

"What are we going to do, brother?" Al asked, "America is a long way away."

"I dunno, Al," his brother replied, a smirk suddenly spreading across his face, "feel like going on a trip?"

"To America!? Brother, are you crazy!?" Al exclaimed in disbelief. Ed blinked slowly, folding the newspaper as he bowed his head and replied.

"We said we were going to find Huskisson and we have. We can't let an ocean get in our way."

"I know, it's just…America is so far away. It'll take months to get there."

"Not if we fly," came his brother's solution. Al stared at him, wondering if he had finally lost his mind.

"_Fly!?_" he blurted, "Can't we take a ship? Isn't that safer? I mean, what if we crash? I don't think I really trust those things to stay up in the sky."

"You've been in a plane before; we both have," Ed reminded him. Al shook his head.

"That was different. I wasn't thinking about crashing, I was thinking about—"

Al broke off, for there was no need to explain; Ed knew what his younger brother had been thinking at the time. Bringing up their last flight had been unfair, he realized, but he still needed to make his point.

"It'll be faster," Ed explained, "We can get there in a few days. And besides, there's as much of a chance that we'll sink." Al sighed, wondering how his brother could be so carefree. Though, he had to admit…it would be faster.

"If we crash, I'll kill you," he said, relenting. Ed laughed.

"If we crash, I'm pretty sure you won't get the chance."

Alphonse all but kissed the ground when they landed; true, the flight had been smooth, except for some mind-freezing turbulence here and there, and had even been slightly exciting, but the younger Elric still preferred solid earth, especially when his alchemy was useless on this side of the Gate.

Both boys took in their new surroundings as they stepped off the plane, staring in awe at the tall buildings in the distance and the giant green statue behind them. New York City definitely lived up to the stories they'd heard on the way over.

"So what now, brother?" Alphonse asked, feeling small and lost as his hazel eyes absorbed the sight before them, "Find Huskisson and destroy his research?"

"Well, for now I think we need to visit this Einstein character, but after that, yeah." The older Elric drew his brow together due to an unpleasant thought. He didn't want to mention it to Alphonse, but destroying Huskisson's research probably wouldn't be enough.

"But why visit _him_?" Al asked next.

"He might be able to help us get close to the Manhattan Project, as they're calling this little experiment," Ed replied, his tone turning bitter at the end. It softened as he continued. "Right now we're nobodies in this. Who's going to believe us when we tell them why they should stop their research?"

"Right," Al realized, "If someone had told _us_ we were making a mistake with our research…we wouldn't have believed them."

"Exactly. Obviously this Einstein guy is pretty chummy with the president here, so if we can convince _him_, he can convince Roosevelt to shut down the project for us."

_'That would be the ideal situation,'_ Edward thought to himself, knowing that for _them_, the 'ideal situation' very rarely came to pass.


End file.
